The email’s subject line was simple: “Help.”

“I live with my two kids (9 and 6 years old) and we need help with our rent payment for this month, please. My rent amount is $2100. I can’t afford to pay for this month because of the recent situation and I’m scared to get evicted. Please.” 

That plea is one of several hundred that Maine immigrants have sent recently to Project Home, a Portland nonprofit working to prevent the evictions of families affected by the surge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity across the state last month.

“To say everything has changed is an understatement,” Project Home Executive Director Victoria Morales said. “This is a crisis beyond any crisis that we’ve ever seen in Maine.”

Project Home says that it has received 686 requests in the last month for assistance with rent and mortgage payments from Maine immigrant households that have experienced a sudden loss of income because of ICE activity.

Unless it receives financial help, the organization says it will likely be able to assist only a fraction of those people.

While ICE activity has returned to more normal levels — though an uptick of enforcement has been reported in rural parts of the state — hundreds of Maine immigrants are facing the threat of eviction.

Some households’ primary earners were unexpectedly detained by ICE, while others were too afraid of being caught up in “Operation Catch of the Day” to go to work for weeks. Many had to spend their rent payments on emergency legal fees.

“Please I am requesting help with rent this month. I did not pay and I am scared of being evicted,” reads another email from an asylum seeker that Project Home shared with the Press Herald. “I could not work because of ICE current situation, I am still really scared of going outside.”

A GROWING NEED

Project Home typically works with 400 families annually, helping to keep them in their homes by partnering with landlords and providing rental coordination and eviction prevention services.

When the ICE surge began in Maine, Project Home staff knew that it would cause many people to lose income, Morales said.

That prompted the organization to create an emergency housing fund, which it says has raised roughly $350,000 from hundreds of donors. As of Friday, Project Home had distributed more than half of the fund to help 95 households in Maine make rent or mortgage payments. The nonprofit says it prioritizes families that have had an earner detained by immigration enforcement.

The majority of the donations were between $50 and $200 and came from individual contributors, some of whom shared their reasons for giving on Project Home’s donation page.

“The difference between stability and homelessness is a big deal!” reads one statement. 

“As a veteran of the U.S. Army, I am proud to offer you financial support,” says another. “We fought to make this country free for folks like you.” 

With the current donations, Project Home estimates it can help 170 households in February— less than a quarter of the requests for assistance the organization has received.

At a Jan. 28 roundtable of mayors about eviction concerns, Project Home estimated it would take $1.3 million to “prevent the numbers we know about today.”

“It’s been incredible that the community has stepped up … which is wonderful, but housing is really expensive,” Morales said. “The need is much greater than a small fund like that can really do.” 

LOOKING LONG-TERM

Last year, Maine lawmakers were close to allocating millions of dollars toward a program that could have been used to prevent these evictions had it been funded, Morales said.

Since late in 2024, Project Home has administered Maine’s inaugural eviction prevention program on behalf of the state, providing short-term financial assistance to families struggling to cover housing costs. The $18 million pilot program has helped nearly 1,300 Maine renters avoid eviction, according to MaineHousing.

In last year’s legislative session, housing advocates asked lawmakers to renew the program for $10 million a year. The bill was approved by the House and Senate but still sits on the appropriations table — unfunded.

“We’ve got to come to solutions that actually help people stay in their homes and be financially secure. That’s the sort of policy that we are very, very interested in,” Morales said.

Other advocates have suggested halting ICE-related evictions by calling for a statewide pause of all evictions. The Portland and South Portland city councils at the beginning of the month formally asked Gov. Janet Mills to consider a 60-day eviction moratorium. The governor’s office has said Mills will review the requests.

Morales said it is essential that solutions to keep Maine immigrant families housed also consider the longer-term financial impacts of the income they lost.

“From our perspective, a moratorium is not alleviating the housing debt that will continue to accrue throughout a moratorium, and so really right now, what folks need is financial assistance to pay rent,” Morales said.

Project Home and other advocates plan to urge the Legislature to fund the eviction prevention program this session.

In the meantime, Project Home staff will continue to field requests for help and ask the public to support families in need.

Because soon enough, March rent will be due.